Skip to main content

tv   Journal  KCSMMHZ  July 5, 2012 2:30pm-3:00pm PDT

2:30 pm
♪ >> welcome to the "journal" coming to you from dw in berlin. >> here is what is coming up in the next half-hour? germany's domestic service is under fire over its handling over a deadly neo-nazi sell. >> the ecb cut its main interest rate to an all-time low, 0.75%. >> and fifa decides to introduce technology on goal lines to decide whether a team has scored or not. >> the former head of germany's
2:31 pm
domestic security services face a grilling in parliament today. the agency is accused of serious failures in an investigation surrounding a neo-nazi group. >> the national socialist underground went undetected in germany for over a decade as it planned and carried out nine racially motivated murders and the killing of a policewoman. >> now, lawmakers are demanding answers. >> he was germany's top domestic intelligence officer until three days ago. now he faces tough questions and does not have all the answers. he was unable to explain why key files had been shredded. from admitted serious mistakes in the agency's investigations, members of the committee said part of the problem lay in germany's intelligence system. >> today, we saw once again that cooperation between germany's security agencies is not working and in some areas is in a very sorry state.
2:32 pm
we saw there is not even communication when the police make a request as part of their investigation of a series of murders. >> earlier in a closed-door hearing, the official responsible for destroying the documents was questioned in a session that lasted longer than scheduled. members of the inquiry said later the incident could be put down to a lack of professionalism, but the files contained sensitive information about the neo-nazi group. >> after hearing the testimony, it is even more of a mystery to me what makes him so sure that the three key members of the neo-nazi group were never in contact with or recruited by the intelligence services. >> he said he decided to step down after learning about the destroyed files. he said he could no longer be sure that his staff were telling him the truth. >> our correspondent has been following this story and joins
2:33 pm
us now from our parliamentary studios. what have you learned today? >> let me begin by telling you what i have not learned -- specifically why those files were destroyed, who gave the order for them to be destroyed, and was it part of a cover-up? that cannot be ruled out. we also do not know the full extent of the collision and collaboration between members of the intelligence community in germany and neo-nazis. lots of big questions that remain to be answered. we do know there was this decade-long series of hideous racially motivated crimes, and the perpetrators of those crimes went undetected for more than a decade. why? that is the question. because the police were not good at tracking them down. what we have learned today is that when the police turned to the intelligence agencies in germany, they did not get much support because the chief of those intelligence agencies has submitted -- admitted that his services was uncoordinated, was
2:34 pm
bureaucratic, and was heavy handed and blind in one night. that is the most important point. why do i say that? when they looked at racially motivated crimes, they did not really see them for what they properly were because they were not capable of doing so or did not want to do so, which is even worse. >> it definitely sounds as though germany's intelligence services need a complete overhaul. >> absolutely. the only question for most people in germany is how major overhaul will be. there are some on the left and the head of germany's turkish community saying that the main intelligence agency in germany should be scrapped altogether. the turkish community have certainly lost their trust in the establishment. >> we thank you very much for the report. this is a case that has shocked many germans and left awkward questions about the nation's
2:35 pm
domestic authorities. >> let's look at how it developed from the start. >> police in eastern germany already knew about these three young neo-nazis when they raided several garages. the discoveries they made were alarming -- 1.5 kilograms of explosives, five pipe bombs, and numerous firearms. but they also made a huge blunder. although the suspects were already under surveillance, the police did not pounds. one member of the group was present during the raid on the garage, but the police allowed him to get into his car and drive away. over the next 13 years, the three allegedly murdered 10 people, carried out bomb attacks, and rob banks. the authorities failed to link the crimes. all the whale, the trio lived free in germany, spending
2:36 pm
hollywood -- spending holidays on the baltic sea, making new friends. the police were incapable of tracking them down. >> when you see the police in bavaria asking the domestic intelligence agency for a proper profile of the suspects and for leads about right-wing extremist groups and then they have to wait eight months for a rather meager results, it is shocking and bewildering. >> for months now, a parliamentary committee has been investigating such failures. it is concerned that authorities involved in bottling the case are refusing to accept any blame -- involved in bungling the case. >> i cannot explain how people in positions of responsibility come before us and act in such an unreasonable way. their statements sometimes appear to be exercises in self righteousness. >> although all but one of the
2:37 pm
murder victims were of turkish or greek origin, investigators failed to identify xenophobia as the common thread. perpetrators were able to carry on undeterred. >> when you have almost exclusively foreign-born victims in nine of the 10 murders, someone should have decided to investigate far right hate crimes. the fact that right wing terrorists rarely claim responsibility for their attacks should also have been a tip off. somebody should have noticed that. >> possibly the worst failure was that investigators suspected the victims themselves of criminal activity. police seemed more prepared to accuse relatives of involvement and to consider the possibility that they were dealing with hate crimes. >> police in london have arrested five men and a woman suspected of planning terrorist attacks. authorities were said to be
2:38 pm
searching several residences and storefronts are around the capital. london has been wrapping up security measures ahead of the olympics, which kicks off in three weeks time. authorities say they believe it is not related to the games. >> german chancellor angela merkel has pledged continued support to lebanon in order to keep the country from being drawn into the conflict with syria. >> at talks in berlin, merkel said it would include helping lebanon secure its borders with syria. at the same time, she reiterated that germany believed it would be difficult to achieve a peaceful solution in syria while president bashar al awssad -- assad is still at the helm. >> violence in syria threatens the whole region. for angela merkel, a peaceful resolution means the syrian president should step down. >> the best outcome would be a
2:39 pm
governing power in syria are arrived at peacefully that would perform a conciliatory function -- the governing power in syria are arrived at peacefully. it is important to achieve that through dialogue, and at the moment, that is very difficult. >> there are fears the growing violence in syria could spill over into lebanon. a number of clashes have already been recorded along the border. lebanon is doing everything possible to fix it. >> the chancellor has asked a lot of questions about the region as well as lebanon. i have assured her that the situation in lebanon is stable. >> on that, germany says it can help. it has promised to help boost security along lebanon's border with syria by offering training
2:40 pm
and technical assistance. >> there is renewed disagreement between germany and syria's ally russia over how to handle the syrian president. >> after talks with his german counterpart in moscow, the russian prime minister revealed his country had turned down a german proposal for russia to offer asylum to assad. he said officials at first considered the idea a joke. turning now to soccer, goals that are too close to call may soon be a thing of the past. fifa has agreed to use the goal line technology in an effort to reduce disputed goals, informing referees automatically when a ball crosses the goal line. first charles will be held during the word cup championship -- during the world cup
2:41 pm
championship -- first trials will be held during the world cup championship. we thank our sports correspondent for being with us. we see this in tennis all the time. why is it so difficult for soccer? >> i think you are asking why they took so long to get their heads around this, and there is a simple explanationn -- fifa is a very conservative organization. they are self-styled purists of the sport. at heavily come around because there have been two major blunders at the last two major tournaments. they decided to put in a goal line referee, the problem being, as we found out at this euro 2012, that he cannot really see past the goal post, and the end result was that england
2:42 pm
benefited from a goal that was not given to ukraine. now, basically, they have no choice because they have made themselves look pretty ridiculous. >> critics say this technology will slow the game down. is that justified? >> i do not think it is pure it was close the game down is when a bunch of players circle the referee and say, "that was a goal." and no one really knows. that is what really slows the game down. the technology has been used for years to solve close line calls. the people who make the technology say they can get a decision to the referee within about a minute, and it has not hurt tennis at all. it has made tennis a better game. >> we will see what happens with this decision. thank you for being in the studio to talk to us about it. moving on to some business news,
2:43 pm
the european central bank has cut its key interest rate by 0.25% to 0.75%, a record low. >> the rate affects borrowing costs in the broader economy. analysts say the cut will only modestly help europe's struggling economies and troubled banks. some economists say the ecb needs to do more. >> central banks continue to flood the market with cheap money -- not only the european central bank lowering the interest rate, but also the chinese central bank and the bank of england pumping funds and directly into the market. how bad is the economy worldwide? the debt crisis is by all means the worst for the eurozone, but the ecb is running out of means slowly.
2:44 pm
vw shareholders had reason to celebrate. the takeover will increase profits considerably. >> let's take a closer look at the closing members. the dax trading lower on thursday -- 0.5% lower there. euro stocks 50 also down on the day. in new york, trading still under way for the dow jones industrial average, also retreating from the biggest three-day rally of the year as investors wait to see the results of a key jobs report coming out on friday. the euro declining against the dollar, trading for $1.2386. >> stick around. we will be back in a minute's time with an update from japan and the stricken fukushima power plant. >> i feel like animated films,
2:45 pm
we have a piece on a new exhibit that shows how you can get inside how they are made -- if you like animated films.
2:46 pm
>> welcome back. it was in march of last year when a tsunami calls -- caused a meltdown that japan's fukushima nuclear power plant. >> it was the worst disaster since chernobyl and forced 10,000 people from their homes. >> the conclusion is that the accident at the power plant was a preventable, man-made disaster. >> the report blames the operator, government, and -- and others. >> the panel spent 900 hours hearing evidence hearing from more than 1000 people before publishing its report. the results are damning.
2:47 pm
>> this report is being handed over to parliament today, but it is also meant for the japanese people so that everyone knows what happened at fukushima. >> on march 11, 2011, a strong earthquake hit japan, sending a tsunami smashing into the east coast. the fukushima power plant was engulfed by a wall of water, causing several meltdowns in reactors. but the panel says the real problem with the people in charge. the operators knew about the dangers posed by earthquakes and tsunamis but did not take the necessary precautions. japan's former prime minister has also come under fire over his handling of the disaster. he has since been campaigning for an end to nuclear power opponents of nuclear energy have mixed feelings about the report. >> we now have a report, but the government has learned nothing. we are afraid what happened at
2:48 pm
fukushima will happen again. >> now japan has restarted its first nuclear reactor since the disaster, but critics say nuclear power remains a danger in the earthquake-prone japan. >> french investigators have published their final report following an investigation into the 2009 crash of an air france flight from rio de paris -- to paris. >> the french aviation safety report said a combination of technical and human error caused the crash. >> for many pilots, the crash has now shape how they train for emergency situations -- has now shaped how they train for emergency situations. >> airline pilots spend hours each year training in simulated emergency situations. part of the training involves confronting emergency situations
2:49 pm
like the scenario that led to the crash of air france flight 447. the plane went into an era dynamic storm causing it to plummet to the ground. there are now mandatory regulations that govern how pilots must react in this situation. >> these days, what you do is keep the nose of the plane -- dip the nose of the plane. then you can start adding propulsion. it works better that way. >> the crash was partly due to a failure of the speed sensors. all three came from the same manufacturer and malfunctioned due to ice built up inside them. afterward, airbus and the european aviation authority demanded that at least two be swapped for more reliable ones from another manufacturer. >> that chapter of the story is closed now for sure.
2:50 pm
there was a lot of pressure after the accident if not before it to switch out the instruments. i cannot imagine anyone in the world is still flying with those old sensors. >> but airbus' technology has hardly changed. the pilots were steering the craft to manually, but airline captains say the airbus is not fully protected from entry errors, in part due to the construction of the control. the design of the airbus 330 allows the pilot and co-pilot to give contradictory commands, which is exactly what happened on flight 447. >> pilots have been criticizing it for years, but airbus has not moved away from the concept, so it is possible to have one person still of words and the other downwards -- one person steer upwards and the other
2:51 pm
downwards. >> with up to 15-hour shifts, it is not always possible to stay alert. for that reason, pilots criticized investigators for discounting the role but he might have played in the crash -- the role fatigue might have played. >> seoul says it wants to take up wailing for scientific research, a loophole already used by japan -- whaling for scientific research. the practice has been banned since 1986. >> this whale is fighting for its life. it is a battle the creature will not win. it received a deadly blow by harpoon from a wailing ship -- whaling ship. scenes like this are about to become more, if south korea
2:52 pm
pursues whaling -- become more common. south korea says it is responding to complaints from fisherman that whales are depleting stocks. others say it is nothing more than a ploy to resume commercial whale hunting. >> i am very disappointed by this announcement. we are completely opposed to wailing. there is no excuse for scientific whaling, and i have instructed our expert in south korea to raise this today at the highest levels of the south korean government. >> environmentalists say the whales that south korea intends to hunt are in danger. seoul has pledged to abide by the commission's decision on the matter. >> russia is getting tougher.
2:53 pm
organizations that speak out against the regime face even more state supervision and regulation. >> we have a look at one organization that is politically active and could face more scrutiny. >> bureaucracy and police repression -- part of everyday life for the head of this moscow organization which documents russia's soviet past and monitors current human rights abuses. he says he is not a foreign agent but is worried about the future of his organization. >> this law will stigmatize and sideline organizations that are in any way politically activate -- active and receive funding from abroad. >> friday, there's a discussion about whether similar organizations should be listed as foreign agents, making them subject to tougher supervision. the law was proposed by
2:54 pm
representatives who claim it is about transparency. >> there are groups in russia that are politically active and financed from abroad, but the result of their work is presented as the opinion of russian civil society, and that is not right. >> it is the same hard-line vladimir putin took during his election campaign. putin has consistently accused activists and government critics of acting in the interest of foreign entities and against russia appeared for activists, the newly proposed law is evidence russia is growing more authoritarian -. >> if you have seen and an animated film in the past years, chances are it might have been made by pixar. for those of us who want to see how they did it, there is a new
2:55 pm
opportunity. an exhibition just opened in bonn, germany. >> every drawing a work of art. "ratatouille" was a major hit in 2007 and won an oscar as well. the new exhibition shows the long road from sketches and sculptures to the fully animated feature film. hundreds of artists brought the culinary rodent and his parisian cafe to the silver screen. it takes years of hard work to breathe life into the characters and give them a world and a story to live in. the exhibit gives visitors a chance to look behind the scenes and see how their favorite characters came to life. >> the artist's discuss and polish every aspect of the characters, the stories, and the entire world of the film until everything else together -- the artists.
2:56 pm
they work until everyone agrees they have captured their vision. they use techniques like sketches and sculptor. >> cute creatures like nemo are stock in trade, but everyday objects are as well. it was a humble desk lamp that offered the first glimpse of its vision 25 years ago. >> all right, some brief sports news for you -- a german cyclist has won the fifth stage of the dirt -- toward affronts -- tour de france with a spectacular sprint finish. it was his second win in a row but was not enough to take the yellow jersey. britain's bradley weakens -- wiggins is 7 seconds behind him, second place overall.
2:57 pm
western europe's tallest building opened in london today. >> known as the chard, the steel and glass structure stands 310 meters high -- known as the shard. the city's new skyscraper will house a hotel, offices, restaurants, and luxury facilities. you are up to date here at this hour. stay with us. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--
2:58 pm
2:59 pm

74 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on